Investors Room at ICT Week 2025: Uzbek startups secure their first investments

As part of Web Summit Spotlight: Uzbekistan and ICT Week Uzbekistan 2025, the Investors Room was held — a unique networking event designed to connect promising startups with potential investors.

The format included concise five-minute pitches, followed by individual meetings with business angels and representatives of venture funds from Uzbekistan, Europe, the MENA region, and the United States.

The Investors Room brought together more than 50 startups and 28 investors. The venue was divided into two sectors:

• Alpha — with ticket sizes ranging from $50,000 to $500,000. This sector featured 19 funds and business angels, including UzVC, SQB Ventures, AloqaVentures*, IT Park Ventures, Yoshlar Ventures, Imkon Ventures, Sarmo Ventures, Togo-X Capital, Sabah Fund, CS Angels Club, Fuad Taghiyev (CEO of Birainy and business angel), AV Ventures, Yellow Rocks VC, Caucasus Ventures, Doha Tech Angels, Tanay VC, Big Sky Capital, Oxora, and Orbit Startups.

• Beta — with ticket sizes ranging from $500,000 to $25 million. Nine funds participated in this category: AloqaVentures*, Sturgeon Capital, Most Ventures, Alchemist Doha, Golden Gates VC, Yandex, the Azerbaijan-Uzbek Investment Company (AUIC), Purple Ventures, and Heartfelt Capital.

AloqaVentures participated in both categories, as its strategy encompasses smaller tickets as well as investments exceeding $1 million.

The Investors Room provided a significant opportunity for emerging teams to gain access to capital, expert knowledge, and strategic partnerships. Following the session, the first investments were announced by Yoshlar Ventures:

• Inter Ai — an artificial intelligence startup developing solutions for business process automation and data analytics. The team focuses on creating tools that increase corporate efficiency and optimize workflows. The startup received $38,000.

• Hisobchi Ai — a fintech project employing AI technologies to automate accounting and financial analysis. The startup assists entrepreneurs and companies in simplifying financial management and reducing costs. The startup received $37,500.

• Educoin — an educational startup integrating blockchain technologies and digital learning tools. The platform is aimed at enhancing youth skills and providing new opportunities for access to educational resources and career development. Educoin received $20,700.

In addition, soft commitments totaling approximately $10 million were secured, and several startups were invited to continue negotiations with venture funds.

The Investors Room not only demonstrated the strong interest in projects from Uzbekistan but also represented a tangible step toward the emergence of new, successful companies with the potential to enter international markets.

The media partners of the event included: Aniq.uz, Daryo.uz, Frank.uz, Kursiv, Nova 24, The Tech, UzbekFintech, Weproject, Vzglyad.uz, and the Oriat Dono radio station.